Barcelona star Arda Turan retires from Turkish national team after attacking journalist

Turkish reporter Bilal Mese wrote a piece in which he claimed Arda Turan was embroiled in a pay dispute with the Turkish soccer federation. Turan, who currently plies his trade at FC Barcelona, disagreed with Mese’s accounting of the facts.

That’s all generally acceptable discussion, of course, but what’s not acceptable is the method of Turan’s disagreement, which reportedly involved attacking the journalist on a team plane, as detailed and translated by The Independent:

“Tell me Bilal Meşe, were you there?” he began. “Were you with us when you wrote about the bonuses issue? Who did I ask for money from? Who did ask I for bonuses from? Talk. Come on. Who made you write those reports?” Turan reportedly shouted at Meşe, a veteran journalist who had blamed skipper Turan for much of the squad disharmony.

“What kind of a country is this? They allow you onto this plane. F*** those who allowed you onto this plane,” Turan said.

“You thought I was like the others. Who did I beg for money from? You son of a b****. I’d quit football before allowing anyone to say anything against my honour, my family,” he added.

It actually somehow got worse from there, with Turan being restrained by his teammates after grabbing Mese by the throat. That’s not great, and Turan was subsequently dropped from Turkey’s squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifying match against Kosovo.

Turan held a press conference Tuesday to announce he was retiring from international soccer, and lest you assume it’s because he’s ashamed of the incident and can’t imagine playing for Turkey in the wake of his attack: